I am writing this complaint for two reasons. Firstly, I intend to take legal action against Belle Rock Entertainment, but am not sure what the process is for an online casino which appears to be registered in Gibraltar? Secondly, I am still hopeful that my issue can be satisfactorily resolved by the CSR Supervisor without the need to resort to legal action.
On the 22rd March 2006, The Aces High Casino erroneously credited $6,500 I had withdrawn from their site back to my casino account. I assumed that the money was part of my payroll and lost the money. As I expect most high-stakes gamblers do, I keep track of my online gambling by writing down whenever I make a deposit, withdrawal, or reverse a withdrawal. This is necessary as I gamble a lot of money. For context, I had already deposited $17,000 with Belle Rock Entertainment in the month of March. My personal gambling records therefore clearly showed that I had a withdrawal of $6,500 on its way to me, because I had made and noted a $6,500 withdrawal, and I had not reversed the withdrawal.
When I realized that Belle Rock Entertainment had made this error, I phoned their call centre (which I believe is located in South Africa). They acknowledged that they had made an error and told me that they would pass the details on to their customer relations department which would be dealing with the refund. I asked that the Aces High Casino account be suspended pending the resolution of the matter, which it was.
I then received a telephone call from the customer relations department on the 23rd March 2006 where it was explained verbally to me that the $6,500 would be returned to me, but that they were e-mailing me a form that had to be filled out for the record.
The email arrived, and included the following text, which I have retained for my records:
"We apologize for not informing you with regards to your withdrawal having been incorrectly credited back to your casino account. We have re-opened your account and you can withdraw the money again, however since you did make a query on your account we need you to return the PDF attached."
The PDF was a list of all deposit transactions I had made on my account, which I was required to sign to confirm that it was accurate.
This is the point at which the customer service deteriorated. I signed the form (although with hindsight I suspect that I should have refused to sign anything) and faxed it back. In fact, over the next several days, I faxed it back 5 times (and have retained copies of the successful transmittal confirmations for my records) and I followed up each time with a telephone call to the call centre. Each time, I was told that the fax had not been received. I eventually decided to scan the information and e-mail it to Belle Rock Entertainment. The scan was successfully received by Belle Rock Entertainment on 28th March 2006.
Today (31st March 2006) I was informed by a call centre representative that my case had been investigated by all the relevant departments and that Belle Rock Entertainment management had decided not to return my $6,500. The argument made by the call centre representative as to why they had decided not to return the $6,500 was very weak. Apparently they had contacted the online casino software provider and determined that some of the $6,500 they had erroneously credited into my account was subsequently withdrawn and reverse withdrawn by myself prior to being lost. Clearly, this has no bearing on the basis of my complaint, which centers around the fact that the $6,500 was originally withdrawn by me and never reverse withdrawn. I should also mention that I had to make the call to the call centre to get this information, nobody tried to contact me regarding the decision.
I demanded to speak to somebody from management but was told by the call centre representative that I could make a request to speak to someone if I called during their normal business hours but management does not usually speak with players and the decision was final. I therefore requested that the call centre representative notify Belle Rock Entertainments legal department that I would be commencing legal action.
There is one other piece of information which may or may not be relevant to this complaint. On 25th March 2006, I won $16,500 at another online casino owned by Belle Rock Entertainment, The Gaming Club. It was after this win that Belle Rock Entertainment determined that they were not going to pay me my $6,500.
On the 22rd March 2006, The Aces High Casino erroneously credited $6,500 I had withdrawn from their site back to my casino account. I assumed that the money was part of my payroll and lost the money. As I expect most high-stakes gamblers do, I keep track of my online gambling by writing down whenever I make a deposit, withdrawal, or reverse a withdrawal. This is necessary as I gamble a lot of money. For context, I had already deposited $17,000 with Belle Rock Entertainment in the month of March. My personal gambling records therefore clearly showed that I had a withdrawal of $6,500 on its way to me, because I had made and noted a $6,500 withdrawal, and I had not reversed the withdrawal.
When I realized that Belle Rock Entertainment had made this error, I phoned their call centre (which I believe is located in South Africa). They acknowledged that they had made an error and told me that they would pass the details on to their customer relations department which would be dealing with the refund. I asked that the Aces High Casino account be suspended pending the resolution of the matter, which it was.
I then received a telephone call from the customer relations department on the 23rd March 2006 where it was explained verbally to me that the $6,500 would be returned to me, but that they were e-mailing me a form that had to be filled out for the record.
The email arrived, and included the following text, which I have retained for my records:
"We apologize for not informing you with regards to your withdrawal having been incorrectly credited back to your casino account. We have re-opened your account and you can withdraw the money again, however since you did make a query on your account we need you to return the PDF attached."
The PDF was a list of all deposit transactions I had made on my account, which I was required to sign to confirm that it was accurate.
This is the point at which the customer service deteriorated. I signed the form (although with hindsight I suspect that I should have refused to sign anything) and faxed it back. In fact, over the next several days, I faxed it back 5 times (and have retained copies of the successful transmittal confirmations for my records) and I followed up each time with a telephone call to the call centre. Each time, I was told that the fax had not been received. I eventually decided to scan the information and e-mail it to Belle Rock Entertainment. The scan was successfully received by Belle Rock Entertainment on 28th March 2006.
Today (31st March 2006) I was informed by a call centre representative that my case had been investigated by all the relevant departments and that Belle Rock Entertainment management had decided not to return my $6,500. The argument made by the call centre representative as to why they had decided not to return the $6,500 was very weak. Apparently they had contacted the online casino software provider and determined that some of the $6,500 they had erroneously credited into my account was subsequently withdrawn and reverse withdrawn by myself prior to being lost. Clearly, this has no bearing on the basis of my complaint, which centers around the fact that the $6,500 was originally withdrawn by me and never reverse withdrawn. I should also mention that I had to make the call to the call centre to get this information, nobody tried to contact me regarding the decision.
I demanded to speak to somebody from management but was told by the call centre representative that I could make a request to speak to someone if I called during their normal business hours but management does not usually speak with players and the decision was final. I therefore requested that the call centre representative notify Belle Rock Entertainments legal department that I would be commencing legal action.
There is one other piece of information which may or may not be relevant to this complaint. On 25th March 2006, I won $16,500 at another online casino owned by Belle Rock Entertainment, The Gaming Club. It was after this win that Belle Rock Entertainment determined that they were not going to pay me my $6,500.
